The Anti-Jewish Boycott:
Boycott Activity in Neustadt
Am Aisch

(March 28, May 18 & July
9, 1934)

Letter of the Jewish firm Schwab
To: The Ministry of Economics, Berlin
March 28, 1934

We know that the Ministry
of Economics has strictly forbidden any kind
of interference by the NS-HAGO [National
Socialist Organization of Crafts, Commerce
and Industry] in business. In spite of that
Neustadt am Aisch is full of signs such as
The Jews are our misfortune and Whoever buys
from Jews is a traitor to the people. The
signs are even hung over streets. In addition,
there have been about 60 popular meetings
in recent weeks on the Jewish Question, where
the speakers gave detailed accounts of cases
of race defilement and the shameful acts
of citizens who were still buying from Jews.
In these meetings old customers that have
started to buy from us again, are being named
and libeled. In the last days the name of
one of our customers from out of town who
had bought a work outfit from us was publicly
exposed in the Fraenkische Tageszeitung No.
72 and in the Stuermer pillory. The school
children spit on customers entering our shop.
One lady was pushed along the street with
a rain of verbal abuse. The result? A complete
cessation of business and total inability
on our part to pay our bills. The suppliers
with whom we have placed orders and to whom
we are obliged based on the assurance of
Department Head Feder that from now on there
will be quiet and no more interference, refuse
to accept cancellations.

And this is being done
to a business that has remarkably faithfully
served its customers in the last 50 years,
that during the inflation has supplied the
district offices of the government with cheap
merchandise, that no one can blame for the
slightest infraction, whose two owners served
in the front during the war, and whose senior
manager, a decent and honest man, died of
a broken heart at the age of 75.

When one asks how this
was possible, we can only give the answer
of the district head of propaganda at a popular
meeting: One year has passed. Next year we
will be free of Jews. Everything that is
being done is aimed at harming us so that
we shall not be able to go on and will be
forced to leave. When people ask in the
meetings why the government does not forbid
the existence of Jewish businesses by law,
the answer they are given is the government
cannot take such a step. It has to come
from the people.

It is not our role to inform
the Ministry of Economics about the repercussions
such behavior has on our relations to the
world, nevertheless we would like to express
our concern in view of the circumstances.
After all, every foreigner who comes to town
or passes through it can see what is going
on with his own eyes. One cannot believe
the repeated promises by the Ministry of
Economics that it does not tolerate the
persecution of the Jews. Neustadt and Franconia
only seek the expulsion of the Jews. Other
countries do not deal with the question
whether the events in Franconia are exceptional
or not. Abroad they simply say: If as strong
a government as the German tolerates these
events, it must agree to them.

The undersigned, an owner
of the Schwab Brothers of Neustadt, a few
years ago had to create a branch of the firm
in Wuerzburg because the local branch had
been under attack for 10 years and could
not provide for three families. This step
was not taken out of arrogance or a wish
to expand, but out of true need....Therefore
the undersigned on behalf of his family requests
the Ministry of Economics to take measures
to prevent the destruction of our existence
in Neustadt so that loyal and decent patriots
will not be forced to leave their homeland.

Sincerely,
The Brothers Schwab

Letter by the
District Government, District Office in Neustadt
To: The Government of Franconia, Department of Interior, Ansbach
May 18, 1934

Re: Boycott against Jews.

... Regarding the complaint
of the Brothers Schwab and in order to execute
the government resolution, we refer you to
the letter of the District head of Neustadt
am Aisch of the National Socialist Party.
The government resolution and the relevant
instructions of the appropriate offices--as
far as they were known to us--were forwarded
to the District Head. In Neustadt am Aisch
now there are even more signs on shop windows
than before with the inscription The Jews
are our misfortune. There can be no objection
to such signs that are merely stating a
fact. They cannot be regarded as a call
for boycott.

Also, the signs that can
be found in some grocery shops Jews are not
served do not give reason to intervene, if
one interprets the law...in a responsible
manner that is fitting to our times. (There
must be no doubt that one can find reasons
in the spirit of the regulation...not to
apply the law when a National Socialist refuses
to sell food to a Jew)....

Letter by the
Party District Office, National Socialist Workers Party
Head of the Neustadt am Aisch District
To: The District Office, Neustadt.
May 18, 1934

Re: Boycott of Jews

Regarding the letter of
the Schwab Brothers to the Ministry of Economics
of 28 May 1934, The Head of the District
declares:

It is a lie that the whole
of Neustadt was full with signs Whoever buys
from Jews is a traitor to the people during
the NS-HAGO week.

It is a lie to claim that
the names of those buying from Jews are exposed
on the pillory.

It is true that there is
no pillory for such people in Neustadt.

It is outrageous that the
meetings that were held on the Jewish Question
during the NS-HAGO week are given as an example.
The meetings were held from 20 February
to 17 March.

It is a lie that school
children chased a woman along the street,
cursed her and spat at her in front of customers.

It is true that no one
heard or saw such an event.

It is a lie to claim that these actions
are carried out to harm the Jews so that
they would have to emigrate.

It is true that the Jews had been hated
in Neustadt for over 10 years, as the Jew
himself admits, due to their moral and
political views. (A detailed report has
been submitted to the Ministry of Economy
a year ago).

It is a lie and an insult to our political
leaders in the area when it is said that
the district leaders of Neustadt wish to
set an example on how to expel the Jews.

It is true that it is a miracle how in
such a bastion of National Socialism as
Neustadt, not a hair on a Jews head was
harmed, in spite of their shameful behavior.

It is outrageous that the Jew Schwab quotes
out of context the words of the Party District
Head of Propaganda.

It is true that the Head of Propaganda
in a closed meeting of Party members stated
the mere fact that if the emigration of
Jews from Neustadt will continue at the
same rate, we shall be able to say next
year: A year has passed, next year we will
be free of Jews.

A General Description of the Jew Schwab:

We do not wish to react to his empty phrases
such as loyal and decent patriots. Whoever
knows the Jew, knows that he does not have
a homeland in Germany and therefore there
could be no honest intentions on his part.
Especially not the Jew Schwab.

Already in 1926 it was the Jew Schwab who
tried to disrupt National Socialist meetings.
Thus he appeared that year at a meeting
where the leader of Franconia, Julius Streicher,
gave a speech and violently cursed him.
He was also the author of many articles
in newspapers in which he slandered our
great movement. Thus the Jew Schwab made
himself hated in Neustadt, which has been
a bastion of the National Socialist movement
for years. During the National Socialist
revolution, it was the political leaders
of Neustadt who prevented the people from
acting on their justified hostility towards
the Jew Schwab. And this is what he calls
persecution of the Jews.

Fritz SchoellerAdolf Meyer
District Head of PropagandaDistrict Head

Letter by the Local Government
To the Ministry of Economics [Bavaria], Department of Commerce, Industry and Crafts
July 9, 1934

Re: boycott against Jews.

... According to the district office at
Fuerth, the resolution of the local council
regarding the pillory was not followed
at Cadolzburg.

Regardthe complaint of the Brothers Schwab
in Neustadt on Aisch, the District Office,
as was reported to us, gave appropriate
instructions to the [Party] Head of the
District. The District Office has informed
us that now there are only signs left saying:
The Jews are our misfortune, the existence
of which cannot be prevented.

The city of Nuremberg reports that there
were no complaints regarding boycotting
of shops....